Depilled

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Cleared the tiny knotted balls of fibre from the surface of a sweater or other woven cloth
2. Rubbed or trimmed away the little clumps of tangled fibre that had formed on a piece of fabric
3. Took off the fuzzy pellets of loose thread that gather on the outside of knitted or woven clothing

Etymology: "Depilled" is the past tense and past participle of "depill," a verb meaning to remove pills (the small balls of tangled fibre that form on the surface of knitted or woven fabric). The verb is formed from the prefix "de-," meaning "off" or "away," plus "pill," which in this sense is a borrowing of the Middle English word for a fibre ball, in turn related to the older noun "pile," the soft nap or surface of a fabric. "Depill" is a modern formation, built on the noun "pill" as applied to garments. Its past form "depilled" follows the regular English pattern of doubling the final consonant before "-ed" after a short stressed vowel, so the spelling is standard rather than an irregularity.